DOCSLIB.ORG

Militant Feminism: an Explosive Interview with a Kkkanadian Urban Guerilla by Comrade Black

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Militant Feminism: an Explosive Interview with a Kkkanadian Urban Guerilla by Comrade Black Militant Feminism: An Explosive Interview with a KKKanadian Urban Guerilla by Comrade Black Juliet Belmas was arrested in January 1983, at the age of 19, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her involvement in the militant Guerrilla groups Direct Action (DA), and The Wimmin’s Fire Brigade. DA claimed responsibility for the bombings of the Cherokee Dunsmire Hydro substation on Vancouver Island, and the bombing of Litton Systems, an Ontario company that was building guidance systems for the nuclear cruise missile; other smaller actions included paint bombing of AMEX offices, and they had plans to sink an icebreaker being used to push forth plans for offshore drilling, as well as bombing the military base at Cold Lake. The Wimmins Fire Brigade fire bombed three stores of the pornography chain Red Hot Video (RVH), after a failing long term campaign by mainstream feminist groups to stop the chain from selling films of womyn and children being violently and repeatedly beaten and raped. Juliet now has a degree from art school and makes independent films, and does work around the issues faced by womyn in prison. I was lucky enough to meet Juliet and hear many of her exciting stories recently—she had so much to say that needed to be heard by others. I took this opportunity to ask her about the connections between anarchism, feminism, punk rock and militancy. Comrade Black: So now that you are not blowing shit up anymore, what are you doing? Are you still a revolutionary? Juliet Belmas: I film shit blowing up all the time now, as a camera technician in the film industry, and over the past few years I’ve been talking—mainly with young people eager to know what it’s like being a revolutionary, about how it all began for me and what it was like. I tell them time, don’t wait for nobody, it goes just like that, so listen up! As for being a revolutionary—a parrhesiast is what I am. I don’t suck-hole to anybody! I tell the truth, despite the risks, and my fidelity to truth is pivotal to my self-examination and maturation as a human being. I choose frankness instead of persuasion, truth instead of falsehood, the risk of death instead of life and security, criticism instead of flattery, and moral duty instead of self- interest or moral apathy. CB: During the trials, a prisoner support group put out some bulletin claiming you had “ratted” out the others. Was there any validity to this? How did that rumor start? How did it affect your time in prison and relationship to your co-defendants? JB: It all began with an article carried by the “Leftist Press,” entitled “Julie Rats Out,” dating back to the mid 1980s. It’s not surprising that the article was not signed. Writers with journalistic integrity always sign their articles (except in some countries like Mexico, Colombia or Algeria where their lives could be threatened by what they write!). But I can see why the person who wrote that article didn’t sign it; it is full of lies and partiality. They depicted Brent Taylor like some demi-god and steered the reader into concluding that Julie was the Judas who betrayed the group for self-interest; while the others, the true believers, must now suffer a worse fate. They take the fact that I pled guilty and appealed a 20-year sentence and make it seem that, because I did that, I automatically “ratted out”—damn! If you only knew how the whole place was wiretapped and what people said, like the cops would learn anything from me or anybody else for that matter. Weird, seems like whoever wrote that article had to find a scapegoat to elevate the others—I don’t know, but what I do know is that I was lucky I wasn’t the lone woman in the group, otherwise the optics would be so much worse. History is so unforgiving! Also, I can’t believe they wrote an entire article about Julie Belmas without even talking to Julie Belmas, or her lawyer. Who were their sources? Never once mentioned in the article! It even slid into low-level gossiping, insinuating I was a rat because of a “slide into religion” or because I “left Gerry.” Not a single word about the fact that he let the others threaten the life of the women he said he loved, which was unbelievable! I believe the reason why the “Leftist Press” singled me out, and labeled me a rat says more about the dogma-laden Left. I didn’t know anybody. I came right out of the suburbs with revolutionary zeal like no other. I never took the state’s evidence, blamed or “ratted” on any one of my ex- comrades. I was a pawn and couldn’t make a move; I watched helplessly as reporters from both the mainstream and the Left began pitting me against the others to sell their stories. Media sucks, and the truth is that the huge sentence I got is proof that I never hid behind anyone’s skirt and I even tried to protect some people. I got a heavier sentence because of that, but it was much harder with that “rat” label, especially in prison; so you can see why I’m not on the best terms with the four others and even some of their most ardent supporters. They had a responsibility, especially my boyfriend (at the time), to remove that “bad jacket” and they never did. They would’ve had to admit they were wrong and obviously they weren’t capable of that. They chose to be rigid politically, instead of being human. CB: What does Militancy and Direct Action mean to you? JB: Militancy means a constant preparedness for the point of no return. Direct action means big tent action by committee. CB: Is property destruction and sabotage violent? How do you define violence? JB: Property damage and sabotage are violence if aimed at the epicenter of an intended target; I define violence as a natural part of being H-U-M-A-N. It’s obvious; politics is violence: politics needs force, politics needs Christ, politics needs money, politics needs ignorance, politics needs fools, politics needs poverty—you get the progression— politics is violence. CB: What was the goal of using militant direct action? Why did you choose militancy over other tactics? And how did you choose your targets? JB: The goal was not to anger people but to scare them, to wake them up. Picketing seemed like a waste of time; nothing ever changes. I targeted Red Hot Video because it was doing business near my family home in Port Coquitlam, and I was very disturbed by it. All I wanted to do was destroy it—smash it up and burn it down! Actually, I wanted to blow it to smithereens with the dynamite we stole, but the others wouldn’t go along with that. Red Hot Video was the only action I chose and the only action I never regretted—not one bit! CB: Many people in the mainstream and those who work for the state, such as the pigs, often call you a terrorist. Do you feel what you have done was terrorism? How do you feel about being called a terrorist? What does that word mean to you? JB: When people label me a terrorist it hits two birds with one stone; first, I get to claw back the representational dynamics of a word that continues to misinform our understanding of history throughout the ages; secondly, it makes me feel special. For instance, when I tell stories highlighting my exploits, people always say to me: “Really? Why were you in prison?” and I always take the opportunity to explain it was for political extremism; if I use the word terrorism, they are always surprised and say, “Ah yeah? And she overcame this?” and somehow I see in their eyes that what I had just said to them kinda gave them hope. I read it in their faces something like: “If a person can have a good life after serving six and a half years in prison for worst acts than those I have done, I sure can have a good life too.” You can do something, and you can make a difference by making the best of it. That’s the way people think, and if you have an influence on one person’s perceptions then you’re doing all right. CB: Mistakes were made at Litton Systems causing serious injuries to some of the security and staff, could these have been avoided? JB: Days before the Litton bombing, a problem was discovered with the bomb’s digital timer, it wasn’t cycling down to zero properly. We should’ve aborted the action right there and then, but we didn’t. Instead, a decision was made to contact the individual who built the timer back in Vancouver before proceeding. It was all beyond me, to tell you the truth, why we continued. But moreover, to this day I believe it was a miracle no one was killed, we should never have attacked a civilian target (a place where people worked) with 550 pounds of dynamite; it was wacko crazy. The way we transported and stored the dynamite and the blasting caps was just as irresponsible; there was little consideration for the public’s safety, not to mention mine. The others had previous experience handling dynamite, whereas, I did not.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Burn It Down! Anarchism, Activism, and the Vancouver Five, 1967–1985
    Burn it Down! Anarchism, Activism, and the Vancouver Five, 1967–1985 by Eryk Martin M.A., University of Victoria, 2008 B.A. (Hons.), University of Victoria, 2006 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences © Eryk Martin 2016 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Spring 2016 Approval Name: Eryk Martin Degree: Doctor of Philosophy (History) Title: Burn it Down! Anarchism, Activism, and the Vancouver Five, 1967–1985 Examining Committee: Chair: Dimitris Krallis Associate Professor Mark Leier Senior Supervisor Professor Karen Ferguson Supervisor Professor Roxanne Panchasi Supervisor Associate Professor Lara Campbell Internal Examiner Professor Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Joan Sangster External Examiner Professor Gender and Women’s Studies Trent University Date Defended/Approved: January 15, 2016 ii Ethics Statement iii Abstract This dissertation investigates the experiences of five Canadian anarchists commonly knoWn as the Vancouver Five, Who came together in the early 1980s to destroy a BC Hydro power station in Qualicum Beach, bomb a Toronto factory that Was building parts for American cruise missiles, and assist in the firebombing of pornography stores in Vancouver. It uses these events in order to analyze the development and transformation of anarchist activism between 1967 and 1985. Focusing closely on anarchist ideas, tactics, and political projects, it explores the resurgence of anarchism as a vibrant form of leftWing activism in the late tWentieth century. In addressing the ideological basis and contested cultural meanings of armed struggle, it uncovers Why and how the Vancouver Five transformed themselves into an underground, clandestine force.
    [Show full text]
  • Concerning Method and the Study of Political Violence
    1 Concerning method and the study of political violence Ah hell. Prophecy ’ s a thankless business, and history has a way of showing us what, in retrospect, are very logical solutions to awful messes … Things are certainly set up for a class war based on conveniently established lines of demarcation, and I must say that the basic assump- tion of the present set up is a grade A incitement to violence. ( Vonnegut 1999 , chap. IX) When asked about anarchism ’ s association with violence, I often reply by inquiring whether one would ask the same thing of a retail clerk, a stockbroker, a lawyer, a priest, an engineer, a taxpayer, a consumer, a liberal, a conservative – or any other identity attribute associated with mainstream society. Most assuredly, the scale of violence perpetuated by the day-to-day operations of capital and the state is grossly dispropor- tionate to anything in the anarchist lexicon, with upwards of 100 million deaths from wars alone during the twentieth century. I daresay that the sum total of people killed or physically injured by anarchists throughout all of recorded history amounts to little more than a good weekend in the empire … Are anarchists violent? Sometimes, but more so when they are participating in the casual, invisible, structural violence of modern life than when they are smashing its symbols of oppression. ( Amster 2012 , 43–44) An anarchist group has claimed responsibility for an arson attack on North Avon Magistrates’ Court … police are investigating the on-line claims but say they do not have the evidence to link it to other attacks carried out on buildings owned by “establishment” bodies, includ- ing the police, the Army and various banks.
    [Show full text]
  • Remembering the Armed Struggle My Time with the Red Army Faction Margrit Schiller • Foreword: Ann Hansen Afterword: Osvaldo Bayer Appendix: J
    Remembering the Armed Struggle My Time with the Red Army Faction Margrit Schiller • Foreword: Ann Hansen Afterword: Osvaldo Bayer Appendix: J. Smith & André Moncourt Margrit Schiller was an early member of the Red Army Faction, the West German urban guerrilla group. In 1971 she was captured and charged with a murder she did not commit, and upon her release she returned to the underground, being captured again in early 1974. She would spend most of the 1970s in prison, enduring isolation conditions meant to break the human spirit, and participating hunger strikes and other acts of resistance along with other political prisoners from the RAF. In Remembering the Armed Struggle, Schiller recounts the process through which she joined her generation’s revolt in the 1960s, going from work with drug users to joining the antipsychiatry political organization the Socialist Patients’ Collective and then the RAF. She tells of how she met and worked alongside the group’s founding members, Ulrike Meinhof, Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe, Irmgard SUBJECT CATEGORY Möller, and Holger Meins; how she learned the details of the May Offensive and Biography & Autobiography/ other actions while in her prison cell; about the struggles to defend human dignity History: Europe in the most degraded of environments, and the relationships she forged with other women in prison. PRICE Also included are a foreword by Ann Hansen, who situates the draconian prison $19.95 conditions inflicted on the RAF within the context of a global counterinsurgency program that would help spawn the plague of mass incarceration we still face today, ISBN an afterword by the late Osvaldo Bayer, and an appendix by J.
    [Show full text]
  • Archived Content Information Archivée Dans Le
    Archived Content Information identified as archived on the Web is for reference, research or record-keeping purposes. It has not been altered or updated after the date of archiving. Web pages that are archived on the Web are not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards. As per the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada, you can request alternate formats on the "Contact Us" page. Information archivée dans le Web Information archivée dans le Web à des fins de consultation, de recherche ou de tenue de documents. Cette dernière n’a aucunement été modifiée ni mise à jour depuis sa date de mise en archive. Les pages archivées dans le Web ne sont pas assujetties aux normes qui s’appliquent aux sites Web du gouvernement du Canada. Conformément à la Politique de communication du gouvernement du Canada, vous pouvez demander de recevoir cette information dans tout autre format de rechange à la page « Contactez-nous ». CANADIAN FORCES COLLEGE / COLLÈGE DES FORCES CANADIENNES JCSP 33/PCEMI no33 MDS RESEARCH PROJECT/ PROJET DE RECHERCHE DE LA MED Can the Terrorist Threat in Canada be Reduced by Focusing on Root Causes? By Cdr Peter M. Egener 23 April 2007 This paper was written by a student La présente étude a été rédigée par un attending the Canadian Forces College in stagiaire du Collège des Forces fulfillment of one of the requirements of the canadiennes pour satisfaire à l'une des Course of Studies. The paper is a exigences du cours. L'étude est un scholastic document, and thus contains document qui se rapporte au cours et facts and opinions, which the author alone contient donc des faits et des opinions que considered appropriate and correct for the seul l'auteur considère appropriés et subject.
    [Show full text]
  • To Download the PDF File
    ! ! ! ! ! ! ! In the Right (Wrong?) Place at The Right Time: A plausibility probe of Ziad Munson’s process of mobilisation, with violent !and non-violent evidence. ! by ! ! Andrea! Lane ! A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements! for the degree of Master !of Arts in ! International Affairs ! ! Carleton University ! Ottawa, Ontario ! ! ! ! ! ! ! @ 2014 Andrea Lane ! Abstract This paper is a plausibility probe of Ziad Munson’s theory of activist mobilisation, testing its relevance first to non-violent activist mobilisation and then to mobilisation into terroristic violence. As well, a case study of the Canadian terrorist group “Direct Action” is presented. Using both semi-structured interviews and extant research to provide data, Munson’s mobilisation process was tested to determine if its further use, particularly by counterterrorism practitioners, is warranted. Munson’s mobilisation process was found to be relevant to both non-violent activist mobilisation as well as mobilisation into political violence and terrorism. Suggestions are offered for further research. ! ! Chapter 1: Introduction ......................................................................3 I. Why this research? .....................................................................3 II. Why Munson’s process ...............................................................4 III. Research context .......................................................................5 Chapter 2: Literature Review
    [Show full text]
  • Terrorism: a Media History
    TERRORISM: A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY RHETORICS OF “TERRORISM” Guerrillas & Terrorists, Richard Clutterbuck The Age of Terrorism, Walter Laqueur Terrorism and War, Howard Zinn Power, Politics, and Culture: Interviews with Edward Said Terrorism: Theirs & Ours, Eqbal Ahmad Terrorism: The Problems of Definition, Mark Burgess Terror in the Name of God, Jessica Stern “JUST WAR” THEORY AND “THE RULES OF WAR” City of God, St. Augustine Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas On War, Carl von Clausewitz Revolutionaries, E. J. Hobsbawm Rebels with a Cause, Nicholas Kittrie Just War against Terror, Jean Elshtain Just and Unjust wars, Michael Walzer INSURRECTIONS & REVOLUTIONS Urban Terrorism, Anthony M. Burton The Paris Commune: Episode in the History of Socialist Movements, Edward S. Mason “Left Wing” Communism, an infantile disorder, V.I. Lenin PROPAGANDA OF THE DEED: ANARCHISM Five Sisters: Women against the Tsar, Barbara Engel & Clifford Rosenthal Floodgates of Anarchy, Stuart Christie & Albert Meltzer Alchemists of revolution, Richard Rubenstein Anarchist Prince, Kropotkin THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH: ANTI-COLONIAL VIOLENCE The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon For the Liberation of Brazil, Carlos Marighela Guerrilla Warfare and Marxism, Wm Pomeroy, Ed. THE GUERRILLA AND THE FOCO THEORY Revolution in the Revolution, Regis Debray “Guerrilla Warfare,” V.I. Lenin “Lessons of the Cuban Revolution,” Che Guevara Guerrilla Warfare and Marxism, Wm Pomeroy, Ed. “BRING THE WAR HOME” – URBAN GUERRILLA WARFARE Imagination of the New Left, George Katsificas Year of the Barricades, David Caute Communism and the New Left, Books by U.S. News and World Report The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage, Todd Gitlin Anarchy of the Imagination: R.W.
    [Show full text]
  • Of Indiscriminate Attacks & Wild Reactions
    We are for a diff erent post-anarchist moment, a diff erent ensemble of post-left agendas, a diff erent deployment of nihilistic sensibilities. We sense and are the co-creators of a diff erent syncretism, a diff erent use of mythology, the weaponizing of a diff erent history. We speak to another emotional resonance, with distinct aff ections. We too are for a blast of alterity into our current straits, a multiplication of the multiple. Anarchism has failed a lot of people, but there are worlds of Of Indiscriminate Attacks diff erence—and confl ict—in interpreting that statement. Our interpretation of the failures of anarchism starts from our shared disappointment with the culminations of left- & Wild Reactions anarchism and horror at the death-trip of civilization, but from there reaches conclusions that could not be further an anti-civ anarchist engages with ITS and Atassa, from the “eco-extremists.” their defenders and their false critics 66 65 Of Indiscriminate Attacks & Wild Reactions an anti-civ anarchist engages with ITS and Atassa, their defenders and their false critics 64 PAMPHLETS AND ARTICLES Letter to the Anarchist Galaxy An Anarchist Response to the Nihilists Killing King Abacus Against Democracy by Grupos Anarquistas Coordinados Th is is What Democracy Looks Like: An Anarchist Critique of Democracy edited by Wolfi Landstreicher Leftism 101 by Lawrence Jarach Th e Sun Still Rises by Conspiracy Cells of Fire (CCF) “ITS, or the rhetoric of decay” (Joint statement of insurrectional groups in Mexi- can territory) “Jack Donovan on men: a masculine tribalism for the far right” by Matthew N Lyons “‘Eco-Fascist’ Groups Applaud ISIS, Murder of Heather Heyer, and Publishers” by free speech warriors “Anarchism: A Crisis for Art, Science, and Politics” “Against Innocence: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Safety” by Jackie Wang “A very short intro to afro-pessimism” “We’re trying to destroy the world’ — Anti-Blackness & Police Violence After Ferguson.
    [Show full text]
  • Ready Mobilized So People Would Understand Why We Had Carried out the Action
    WAR ON PATRIARCHY, WAR ON THE DEATH TECHNOLOGY THE COLLECTED STATEMENTS, ESSAYS, AND COMMUNIQUÉS OF DIRECT ACTION AND THE WIMMIN’S FIRE BRIGADE “Armed Struggle, Guerilla Warfare, and the Social Movement Influences on Direct Action” first appeared inIgniting a Revolution: Voices in Defense of the Earth. “Militant Feminism” first appeared inEarth First Journal. The four essays in the Essays section all appeared in the publicationWritings of the Vancouver 5. “To Our Sisters, We Are Not Terrorists” first appeared inKick it Over No. 7. The communiqués and Ann’s statement to the court are taken from the bookDirect Action by Ann Hansen. Published by Untorelli Press Bloomington, 2014 UNTORELLI PRESS [email protected] UNTORELLIPRESS.NOBLOGS.ORG TABLE OF CONTENTS HISTORIES ARMED STRUGGLE, GUERILLA WARFARE, AND THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT INFLUENCES ON DIRECT ACTION BY ANN HANSEN..................3 MILITANT FEMINISM BY JULIET BELMAS..................................................11 ESSAYS THE WORK ETHIC AND THE WESTERN DREAM BY GERRY HANNAH.............25 LIVING IN REALITY BY DOUG STEWART......................................................30 FEMINIST RESISTANCE VS. REFORM BY ANN HANSEN...............................33 PATRIARCHAL CONQUEST AND INDUSTRIAL CIVILIZATION BY BRENT TAYLOR..................... .......................37 STATEMENTS STATEMENT TO THE COURT BEFORE SENTENCING BY ANN HANSEN.............41 TO OUR SISTERS, WE ARE NOT TERRORISTS - A STATEMENT FROM PRISON BY ANN HANSEN AND JULIET BELMAS.........46 COMMUNIQUÉS CHEEKEYE-DUNSMUIR BOMBING..............................................................50
    [Show full text]
  • The Squamish Five Better Than This
    CINEMA CAN A D A • Paul Donovan's zombie-like portrayal of these fi ve radicals must surely be a first. The five terrorists, however, are not the only The Squamish people who are subjected to the examination of these filmmakers. At one point in the film, a Five group of feminists discuss ways to curb pornography in Vancouver and decide to step n the spring of 1981 , a Vancouver punk up their direct action campaign by bombing named Julie Belmas met Brent Taylor and several ou tlets of the Red Hot video chain . In the Ann Hansen, hvo left-wing activists who filmmakers' view of things, the most important had become increasingly convinced that thing about this meeting of radical dykes (the Ionly direct action could help realize their film' s emphasis, not mine) is that their talk of political goals. The most prominent of these militant feminist analysis and tactics of actions took place more than a year later on Oct. resistance are so far removed from the middle of 14,1982 when the three activists detonated a the road that the women are nothing but the bomb outside the Litton Systems plant in subject of derision . It might almost be funnyif it Rexdale, Ontario. The three later rejoined Gerry weren' t for the distinct possibility tha t this Hannah and Doug Stewart on the west coast four-minute scene represents about all the time where all five were subsequently arrested and that CBC drama is likely to devo te to non­ brought to trial to face a variety of charges.
    [Show full text]